Page:Walter Matthew Gallichan - Women under Polygamy (1914).djvu/27

 on the marriage customs of mankind, that, of the two systems, polygamy is the better for the race. Polygamy served a racial end in early communities, inasmuch as it enabled the most forceful men to beget the largest number of offspring, and so to perpetuate vigorous qualities. Everywhere plurality of wives has been more the mark of a man's success and power in the community than an expression of male sensuality. The great harem represents a man's dignity and position in society, while its maintenance involves a number of strict legal and social obligations towards wives and concubines.

As we shall see, primitive polygamy arose in many tribes through the labour potentiality of women. The chief with the largest number of wives commanded the largest number of assistants in hunting and industry, and sometimes in warfare. The source of polygamy is not invariably amatory; the system has been often forced upon the community through a scarcity of males. In the fighting and hunting age many men died in combat and the chase. But the preponderance of females has not always been brought about by the high mortality among males. There are races that tend to reproduce more females than males, or more males than females. Whenever the balance of the sexes is disturbed, plurality of mates naturally results.

The chief cause of polygamy in the past was